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This timeline describes major events in the history ofanimal welfare andanimal rights.
| Period | Description |
|---|---|
| c.14000–1000 BCE | Thedomestication of animals began withdogs. From 8500 to 1000 BCE,cats,sheep,goats,cows,pigs,chickens,donkeys,horses,silkworms,camels,bees,ducks, andreindeer were domesticated by various civilizations.[1] |
| 1000 BCE–700 CE | Hinduism,Jainism, andBuddhism started teachingahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings. Many adherents of these religions began foregoing meat-eating andanimal sacrifice, and, in the case of Jainism, taking great precautions to avoid injuring animals. The earliest known reference to the idea of non-violence to animals (pashu-ahimsa), apparently in a moral sense, has been found in theKapisthala Katha Samhita of theYajurveda (KapS 31.11), written about the 8th century BCE.[2]Judaism,Christianity, andIslam began less comprehensive in their concern for animals, but included some provisions for humane treatment.[3] A number ofancient Greek andRoman philosophers advocated forvegetarianism and kindness toward animals.[4] Theancient Indian philosopherThiruvalluvar (between 1st century BCE and 5th century CE) wrote an exclusive chapter onmoral vegetarianism in his workTirukkural, insisting strictly on a plant-based diet, with separate chapters onahimsa (ornon-harming) andnon-killing.[5][6]Vivisection for scientific and medical purposes began in ancient Greece.[7] Under the influence of Buddhism, a ban on meat-eating was instated in Japan.[8] |
| 1600–1800 | Enlightenment philosophers took up the question of animals and their treatment, some arguing that they weresentient beings who deserved protection.[9][10][11] The first modern animal protection laws were passed inIreland and theMassachusetts Bay Colony.[12] |
| 1800–1914 | British Parliament passed the first national animal protection legislation, and the first animal protection and vegetarian organizations formed in theU.S. andU.K.[13] The American and British anti-vivisection movements grew in the late 19th century, led byFrances Power Cobbe in Britain and culminating in theBrown Dog affair, then declining sharply thereafter.[14] The Japanese taboo against meat-eating died out under theMeiji Restoration.[citation needed] |
| 1914–1966 | The use of animals grew tremendously with the beginning ofintensive animal agriculture in the 1920s[15] and the increasing role of animal experimentation in science and cosmetics.[16] Media coverage of animal abuses spurred concern over animal welfare in the U.S. and U.K., and helped bring about the first federal animal welfare legislation in the U.S.[17][18] The theoretical possibility ofin vitro animal products was recognized.[19] |
| 1966– | Consumption of intensively farmed animal products boomed worldwide, with global meat production rising from approximately 78 million tons in 1963 to 308 million tons in 2014.[20] In the US and Europe, books, documentaries, and media coverage of controversies surroundinganimal cruelty boosted the animal rights and welfare movements,[21][22][23][24] while destructive direct actions by groups like theAnimal Liberation Front draw public rebuke and government crackdown.[25][26] Research on in vitro animal products gained traction,[19] resulting in the first in vitro meats.[27][28] Beginning in the late 1980s, Europe took the lead in animal welfare reform.[25] In the West and some other countries, public interest in animal welfare, animal rights, and plant-based diets increased significantly.[29][30][31][32] |
| Year | Event | Country or region |
|---|---|---|
| c. 530 BCE | Greek philosopherPythagoras was the first in a line of several Greek and Roman philosophers to teach that animals had souls, and to advocate for vegetarianism.[4] |  |
| c. 269–c. 232 BCE | Indian emperorAshoka converted to Buddhism and issued edicts advocating vegetarianism and offering protections to wild and domestic animals.[33] |  |
| 100s | Greek medical researcher and philosopherGalen's experiments on live animals helped establish vivisection as a widely used scientific tool.[7] | |
| 675 | JapaneseEmperor Tenmu, a devout Buddhist, banned eating meat (with exceptions for fish and wild animals).[8] |  |
| 973–1057 | Syrian writer and philosopherAl-Ma'arri at some point in his life stopped using any animal products,[34][35] making him the first documentedvegan. | .svg) |
| Early 1600s | Philosopher and scientistRené Descartes argued that animals were machines without feeling, and performed biological experiments on living animals.[9] |  |
| 1635 | TheParliament of Ireland passed "An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep", one of the first known pieces of animal protection legislation.[12] |  |
| 1641 | Regulations against "Tirranny or Crueltie" toward domestic animals were included in theMassachusetts Body of Liberties.[12] |  |
| 1687 | The Japanese ban on eating meat, which had waned with the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch missionaries, was reintroduced by theTokugawa shogunate. Killing animals was also prohibited.[8] | |
| 1780 | InAn Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation philosopherJeremy Bentham argued for better treatment of animals on the basis of their ability to feel pleasure and pain, famously writing, "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?"[11] |  |
| 1822 | Led byRichard Martin, British Parliament passed the "Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment of Cattle".[36] | |
| 1824 | Richard Martin, along with ReverendArthur Broome and abolitionist Member of ParliamentWilliam Wilberforce, founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (now theRoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, RSPCA), the world's first animal protection organization.[36] | |
| 1824 | Earlyvegan and anti-vivisectionistLewis Gompertz publishedMoral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes, one of the first books advocating for animal rights.[37] | |
| 1830s | Lewis Gompertz left the SPCA to found theAnimals' Friend Society, opposing all uses of animals which were not for their benefit.[37] | |
| 1835 | Britain passed its firstCruelty to Animal Act after lobbying from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, expanding existing legislation to protect bulls, dogs, bears, and sheep, and prohibit bear-baiting and cock-fighting.[citation needed] | |
| 1847 | The term "vegetarian" was coined and theVegetarian Society was founded in Britain.[38] | |
| 1859 | Charles Darwin'sOn the Origin of Species was published, demonstrating that humans are the evolutionary descendants of non-human animals.[39] | |
| 1863 | Frances Power Cobbe published her first article on animal rights,The Rights of Man and the Claims of Brutes, which included a moral case for the regulation of the scientific use of animals in experiments (vivisection). | |
| 1866 | TheAmerican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was established.[17] | |
| 1866 onwards | Under theMeiji Restoration and renewed contact with the West, the Japanese taboo against meat-eating was actively discouraged by the government. Meat-eating soon became the norm.[citation needed] | |
| 1875 | Frances Power Cobbe founded theNational Anti-Vivisection Society in Britain, the world's first anti-vivisection organization.[14] | |
| 1876 | After lobbying from anti-vivisectionists, Britain passed theCruelty to Animals Act of 1876, the first piece of national legislation to regulate animal experimentation.[18] | |
| 1877 | Anna Sewell'sBlack Beauty, one of the first English novels to be written from the perspective of a non-human animal, spurred concern for the welfare of horses.[14] | |
| 1892 | Social reformerHenry Stephens Salt publishedAnimals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress, an early exposition of the philosophy ofanimal rights.[13] | |
| 1902 | On 19 March, theInternational Convention on the Protection of Birds Useful to Agriculture was signed in Paris.[40] | |
| 1903 | TheBrown Dog affair brought anti-vivisection to the forefront of public debate in Britain; the debate lasted till 1910.[14] | |
| 1906 | J. Howard Moore publishedThe Universal Kinship, which advocated for theethical consideration and treatment of all sentient beings, based onDarwinian principle of shared evolutionary kinship and a universal application of theGolden Rule.[41] | |
| 1923 | Intensive animal farming began whenCelia Steele raised her first flock of chickens for meat.[15] | |
| 1933 | Nazi Germany introduced the lawReichstierschutzgesetz (Reich Animal Protection Act).[citation needed] | .svg) |
| 1944 | Donald Watson coined the word "vegan" and foundedThe Vegan Society in Britain.[38] | |
| 1950 | On 18 October, theInternational Convention on the Protection of Birds was signed in Paris.[40] | |
| Early 1950s | Willem van Eelen recognized the possibility ofgenerating meat from tissue culture.[19] |  |
| 1955 | The Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), the first organization to lobby for humane slaughter legislation in the US, was founded.[17] | |
| 1958 | The AmericanHumane Slaughter Act was passed.[17] | |
| 1960 | Indian parliament passed its first national animal welfare legislation,Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.[42] | |
| 1964 | TheHunt Saboteurs Association was founded in England to sabotage hunts and oppose bloodsports.[43] | |
| 1964 | Ruth Harrison'sAnimal Machines, which documented the conditions of animals on industrial farms, helped to galvanize the animal movement in Britain.[25] | |
| 1964 | Largely due to the outcry followingAnimal Machines, British Parliament formed the Brambell Committee to investigate animal welfare. The Committee concluded that animals should be afforded theFive Freedoms, which consisted of the animal's freedom to "have sufficient freedom of movement to be able without difficulty to turn around, groom itself, get up, lie down, [and] stretch its limbs."[25][44] | |
| 1966 | Following public outcry over the cases ofPepper and other mistreated animals, the AmericanAnimal Welfare Act was passed. This legislation set minimum standards for handling, sale, and transport of dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, rabbits, hamsters, and guinea pigs, and instated conservative regulations on animal experimentation.[18] | |
| 1968 | The originalEuropean Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport, establishing minimal ethical standards forlivestock transportation in Europe, was adopted by theCouncil of Europe.[45][46]: 58 |  |
| 1970 | Animal rights activistRichard Ryder coined the term "speciesism" to describe the devaluing of nonhuman animals on the basis of species alone.[47] | |
| 1971 | TheUnited States Department of Agriculture excluded birds, mice, and rats – which make up the vast majority of animals used in research – from protection under the Animal Welfare Act.[48][49] | |
| 1971 | Animals, Men and Morals is published which argued explicitly in favour of animal liberation/animal rights.[50] | |
| 1973 | On 3 March, theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was adopted in Washington, D.C..[51] |  |
| 1974 | Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman of the Band of Mercy, a militant group founded by former members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, were jailed for firebombing a British animal research center.[52] | |
| 1974 | TheCouncil of Europe passed a directive requiring that animals be rendered unconscious before slaughter.[25] | |
| 1974 | Henry Spira founded Animal Rights International after attending a course on animal liberation given byPeter Singer.[53] | |
| 1975 | Peter Singer publishedAnimal Liberation, whose depictions of the conditions of animals on farms and in laboratories andutilitarian arguments for animal liberation were to have a major influence on the animal movement.[21] | |
| 1976 | TheEuropean Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes, which mandated that animals be kept in conditions meeting their "physiological and ethological needs", was adopted by the Council of Europe.[25] | |
| 1976 | Released from prison, Ronnie Lee founded theAnimal Liberation Front in Britain, which soon spread to the US.[52] | |
| 1976–1977 | Under the leadership of Henry Spira, Animal Rights International led a successful campaign to end harmful experiments performed on cats at theAmerican Museum of Natural History.[54] | |
| 1979 | On 10 May, theEuropean Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter, seeking 'to help harmonise methods of slaughter in Europe and make them more humane', was adopted by the Council of Europe.[55] | |
| 1979 | On 19 September, theBerne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats was adopted by the Council of Europe in Bern.[56] | |
| 1979 | On 20 December, theConvention for the Conservation and Management of the Vicuña was signed between Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, in 1981 joined by Argentina, based on an earlier treaty signed on 16 August 1969 in La Paz.[57] |  |
| 1980 | A campaign by Animal Rights International opposingDraize tests performed on rabbits by the cosmetics companyRevlon resulted in Revlon making a $250,000 grant toRockefeller University to research alternatives to animal experimentation. Several other major cosmetics companies soon followed suit.[22] | |
| 1980 | In March,Ingrid Newkirk andAlex Pacheco foundedPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).[58] | |
| 1981–1983 | TheSilver Spring monkey controversy began when Alex Pacheco's undercover investigation ofEdward Taub's monkey research laboratory resulted in Taub's arrest for animal cruelty. Taub was later convicted on six counts of inadequate veterinary care, which was then overturned on the grounds that state animal welfare laws did not apply to federally-funded experiments.[23] | |
| 1982 | TheInternational Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercialwhaling by a 1982 moratorium, effective from 1986.[59] | |
| 1983 | Tom Regan publishedThe Case for Animal Rights, a highly influential philosophical argument that animals had rights (as opposed to Peter Singer's utilitarian case for animal liberation).[60] | |
| 1986 | TheEuropean Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes to regulate the treatment and protection of test animals was adopted by the Council of Europe.[46] Simultaneously and in close coordination with the Council of Europe, Directive 86/609/EEC (later replaced byDirective 2010/63/EU) was developed and adopted by theEuropean Communities.[46] | |
| 1987 | TheEuropean Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals promote the welfare ofpets and ensure minimum standards for their treatment and protection was adopted by the Council of Europe.[61] | |
| 1989 | Gary Francione became the first academic to teachanimal rights theory in an American law school, atRutgers Law School.[citation needed] | |
| 1990 | PETA and thePhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ended their highly publicized legal battle over the Silver Spring monkeys, failing to gain custody of the animals.[23] | |
| 1992 | Switzerland became the first country to include protections for animals in its constitution.[25] |  |
| 1995 | Publication ofGary Francione'sAnimals, Property, and the Law (1995), arguing that because animals are the property of humans, laws that supposedly require their "humane" treatment and prohibit the infliction of "unnecessary" harm do not provide a significant level of protection for animal interests.[62] | |
| 1996 | Publication ofGary Francione'sRain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement, arguing that there are significant theoretical and practical differences between the messaging of the animal rights advocacy, which he maintains requires the abolition of animal exploitation, and the messaging of animal welfare advocates, which seeks to regulate exploitation to continue the exploitation while making it (appear as) less painful and more humane (as in laboratory IACUCs and regulated cattle ranching).[citation needed] | |
| 1997 | TheEuropean Union's Protocol on Animal Protection was annexed to the treaty establishing theEuropean Community. The Protocol recognized animals as "sentient beings" (rather than mere property) and required countries to pay "full regard to the welfare requirements of animals" when making laws regarding their use.[25] | |
| 1998 | The EU passed the Council Directive 98/58/EC Concerning the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes, which was based on a revised Five Freedoms: freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury, and disease; from fear and distress; and to express normal behavior.[25] | |
| 1999 | Willem van Eelen secured the first patent for in vitro meat.[19] | |
| 1999 | European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC[63] was legislation passed by theEuropean Union on the minimum standards for keeping egg laying hens which effectively banned conventionalbattery cages. | |
| 2000–2009 | Bans on fur farming were instituted in the United Kingdom,Austria,Netherlands, Switzerland,Croatia, andBosnia and Herzegovina.[25][64] | |
| 2001 | TheEuropean Court of Justice issued a conservative interpretation of the 1997 Protocol on Animal Protection in theJippes case, stating that the law did not create new protections for animals but only codified existing ones.[25] | |
| 2003 | The revisedEuropean Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport, establishing more detailed ethical standards forlivestock transportation in Europe than the original 1968 convention, was adopted by the Council of Europe.[45][46]: 60–61 | |
| 2006 | Veal crates became illegal in the EU.[25] | |
| 2008 | Spain passed a non-legislative measure to grant non-human primates the right to life, liberty, and freedom from use in experiments. However, this required further action by the government to become formal law, which was not taken.[25] |  |
| 2008 | California passed a ballot measure requiring that a chicken "be able to extend its limbs fully and turn around freely". This has been described as a ban onbattery cages, but battery cages giving 116 square inches per hen were allowed under the law.[65][66] | |
| 2009 | In 2009, Bolivia became the first country to ban allanimal use in circuses.[67] |  |
| 2009 | After a similar 1991 ban in theCanary Islands, the Catalan Parliament adopted aban on bullfighting in Catalonia in December 2009, effective January 2012. However, it was overturned by the Spanish Constitutional Court in October 2016.[68] | |
| 2010 | Gary Yourofsky'sYouTube lecture onveganism andfactory farming entitled "Best Speech You Will Ever Hear" was translated into Hebrew, and went viral inIsrael. The speech helped drive a surge inIsraeli interest in veganism and animal rights.[69][70] |  |
| 2010 | EU Directive 2010/63/EU[71] was the EU legislation "on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes" and became one of the most stringent ethical and welfare standards worldwide.[72] | |
| 2011–2016 | After undercover investigations sparked public outrage over animal abuse on industrial farms, several American states introduced"ag-gag" laws in an effort to criminalize such investigations.[73] | |
| 2012 | The EU's ban on battery cages went into effect.Furnished cages were still allowed, however.[25] | |
| 2012 | A group of prominent scientists issued theCambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which stated that "the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including insects and octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates."[74] | |
| 2013 |  The world's firstcultured meat product (ahamburger), developed by theMaastricht University team ofMark Post (mostly sponsored bySergey Brin), was publicly tested byHanni Rützler in London.[75] | |
| 2013 | The EU bannedtesting cosmetics on animals.[29] | |
| 2013 | TheNonhuman Rights Project filed the first-ever lawsuits on behalf ofchimpanzees, demanding courts grant them the right to bodily liberty via a writ ofhabeas corpus.[76] The petitions were denied and the cases moved on toappellate courts.[77] | |
| 2013 | The UK legislation to protect animals in research, TheAnimals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, was amended to protect "...all living vertebrates, other than man, and any living cephalopod." Previously, the only protected invertebrate was thecommon octopus.[citation needed] | |
| 2014 | The American Animal Cruelty Investigations School was established in the United States with the mission to provide law enforcement and animal care and control professionals training in the area of animal cruelty investigations.[78] | |
| 2014 | India became the first country in Asia to ban testing cosmetics on animals as well as imports of animal-tested cosmetics.[79] | |
| 2015 | In a survey of Israelis, 8% of respondents identified as vegetarian and 5% as vegan (up from 2.5% vegetarians in 2010),[80] making Israel the country with the highest percentage of vegans.[81] | |
| 2015 | New Zealand passes the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill, stating animals like humans are sentient beings.[82] |  |
| 2015–2016 | Following major public backlash prompted by the2013 filmBlackfish,SeaWorld announced it would end its controversialorca shows and breeding program.[83] | |
| 2015–2016 | In the U.S., a number of major egg buyers and producers switched from battery-cage to cage-free eggs.[84][85][86] | |
| 2016 | Cellular agriculture companyMemphis Meats announced the creation of the first in vitro meatball.[28] | |
| 2018 | On December 20, 2018, the federalDog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act was signed into law as part of the2018 Farm Bill, making it illegal to slaughter a dog or cat for food in the United States, with exceptions for ritual slaughter.[87] | |
| 2019 | A proposal to ban factory farming in Switzerland achieved 100,000 signatures, forcing a nationwide ballot on the issue.[88] | |
| 2019 | On June 13, 2019,[89] theFederal Administrative Court inLeipzig, Germany, ruled that the current way ofkilling unwanted chicks "violates the country's laws against killing animals without a justifiable reason."[90] |  |
| 2019 | On October 12, 2019, California banned the sale and manufacture of most animal fur, with some exceptions such as for cowhide or religious observances, effective January 1, 2023.[91] | |
| 2020 | In January 2020, an employment tribunal in Britain ruled thatethical veganism is a "philosophical belief" and therefore is protected in law. This was the first time an employment tribunal in Britain ruled this. This was in regards to veganJordi Casamitjana, who stated he was fired by theLeague Against Cruel Sports due to his ethical veganism.[92] | |
| 2020 | On July 2, 2020, a referendum launched on improving legislation for animals in France, organized through the collaboration of 25 French animal rights and welfare organizations, includingL214 andCIWF.[93] | |
| 2020 | In December 2020, the firstcultured meat product in the world entered the market after being approved by theSingapore Food Agency.[94] |  |
| 2020 | In December 2020, theEuropean Court of Justice ruled thatmember states of the European Union may require a reversible pre-cut stunning procedure duringritual slaughter in order to promote animal welfare.[95] | |
| 2021 | The UK passed legislation formally recognizing animals as sentient beings.[96] | |
| 2021 | In a US court, animals were recognized as "interested persons" for the first time.[97] | |
| 2021 | Octopuses, crabs and lobsters were recognized under UK law as sentient beings.[98] | |
| 2021 | In December 2021, Spain approved a law recognizing animals as sentient beings.[99] | |
| 2022 | Per 1 January 2022, Germany and France jointly became the first countries in the world to prohibit allchick culling, as they called on otherEU member states to do the same.[100] |  |
| 2022 | In February 2022, the electorate inBasel-Stadt in northern Switzerland got to vote on enshrining the basic rights of all non-humanprimates in the cantonal constitution. While the ballot initiative fell through, it was the first time in history that such a vote had taken place.[101] | |
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